Can someone point me to where I can get parts to rebuild a 5MT tranny?

I think my Forester's tranny has bad bearings, seems that the parts dealers only carry seals. Do I need to go to the dealer? I've got the shop manual. Figure I can't do more damage ripping it apart, its making horrible noises. Went from a whine to a squeal. The owner i got it from never replaced the tranny fluid. (119K) I got a good deal on the car because of the tranny noise.

 

(I also have a post for a good used 5MT tranny on the parts wanted forum)

 

Any info would help at this point.

Grab a good used one, it will cost less and be faster.

Squealing noise? These typically make a wirring grindy noise like the trans has rocks in it. A squealing noise might be one of the needle bearings on the pinion shaft, or it could be the pinion and ring gear have worn excessively.

 

There are so many bearings in these and so many tolerances and clearances that need to be set and checked that it's very difficult and extremely time consuming to do a rebuild on one of these transmissions.

Buy a used one with a warranty, even if its just 30 days that will give you enough time to get it put in and decide if it's good or not.

So can someone point me to the best place to get a used tranny?

 

Found more then a few spots on the web, but they range in price a lot.

 

Were are the best places to snag one? Parts lot?

car-part.com

 

Plug in your info and sort by distance, price, ect.

I took out the tranny. Before that I drained the gear lube, ugh...parts on the plug. Big parts.

On the bench I took the rear diff cover off, many parts...took the rear diff housing off, more broken parts. Looks like it was two bearings in the rear diff.

 

Split the tranny case and looked inside, looks real good considering. However, I need a new rear diff. this one the teeth in the gears have ingested metal and they did not play well in there, few chipped teeth. Found a part I can't figure out where it goes. Will look it up in the manual. Will post a few pictures after I get them downloaded.

 

I'm guessing the squeeling was the bearing(s) doing bad things. Maybe I can dive in 4X2 hee hee...

Yeah that's typical of the '99 5MT's. Specifically I've seen a number of '99s where the center diff spider gears had gone bad. The last one I sold to a board member who had another '99 with a bad reverse gear. He cleaned it up, installed his center diff and it's working fine.

 

Sadly it's hard to find the center diff's used (core transmissions have bad one's and no one will part out a good tranny) and they aren't cheap from the dealer - about $450 for the differential assembly.

 

Best bet is a 96 to 98 Outback or 98 Forester tranny. Will bolt right up for the most part but doesn't have the center diff problems of the phase-II 5MT. A 90 to 94 Legacy (also 4.11) transmission could work also though it will not have the exhaust bracket mount and some other stuff is slightly different.

 

GD

Thanks for the info GeneralDisorder! I've read a few of your posts.

here are the pictures:

 

After pulling rear housing off. I'm pointing to bearing parts in the corner there. A magnet picked them right up.

 

The other side, notice the long slender jammed part?:

 

Parts pulled out of the case:

 

Why is that gear SO loose??? :(

 

Looks like bearing parts made it to the gears: :(

 

Found another very loose bearing, pressed it out. It was cracked too. :(:(

 

Split the tranny, found no issues or big parts there. No chipped teeth, no loose parts, needle bearings look great, diff gear looks good too.

Here is a shop manual photo of the "Transfer Case and Extension"

Bearings 27 and 28 are toast.

Bearings 24 and 32 are still looking good.

Bolts (2) 19 were rusted in place and broke which hold the reverse check assembly to the body. This transfer case extension is toast.

 

Cool thing is I now know how a limited slip diff works!!!!

 

Well there's your problem! There's a dohickie wedged in your thingamajig!

Frankly that's a mess - you need a whole transfer section and that's much worse than the one's I've seen in the past where only the actual center diff was bad.

 

Unless a deal comes along on a core transmission with a bad primary or reverse gear - no way you will fix that for less than a good used one. The parts costs alone will be up in the $800+ range I would guess. I know the center diff is $450 by itself. Then you need the transfer gears, bearings, etc.... gonna have to write that one off I'm afraid

 

GD

Yeah that's typical of the '99 5MT's. Specifically I've seen a number of '99s where the center diff spider gears had gone bad. The last one I sold to a board member who had another '99 with a bad reverse gear. He cleaned it up, installed his center diff and it's working fine....

Best bet is a 96 to 98 Outback or 98 Forester tranny. Will bolt right up for the most part but doesn't have the center diff problems of the phase-II 5MT. A 90 to 94 Legacy (also 4.11) transmission could work also though it will not have the exhaust bracket mount and some other stuff is slightly different.

 

GD

Found a these two close by:

1999 Forester 5MT 162.3K miles

1999 Legacy Outback 5MT 41.3K miles

 

Will a 1999 Outback work?

---Ah, found my 99 & 98 shop manuals on outbacks. Looks like 4.111 is the final reduction, need that because that is my rear final. I have the Forester L. Looks like all 99 Forester's got the 4.111. I'm going to go grab the low mileage (yeah, I believe that mileage LOL) Outback tranny. Replace as a whole unit.

Edited December 20, 201114 yr by forester1999

Frankly that's a mess - you need a whole transfer section and that's much worse than the one's I've seen in the past where only the actual center diff was bad.

 

Unless a deal comes along on a core transmission with a bad primary or reverse gear - no way you will fix that for less than a good used one. The parts costs alone will be up in the $800+ range I would guess. I know the center diff is $450 by itself. Then you need the transfer gears, bearings, etc.... gonna have to write that one off I'm afraid

 

GD

 

The center diff and viscous clutch look great, the bearings and transfer gears are toast. Weird how no parts made it into the front diff, center diff, drive gears or reverse gear.

 

On last thought, I'm going to pull the rear diff and see how it has been holding up. Never know....

Edited December 20, 201114 yr by forester1999

Good time to replace the seals.

Got a 5MT out of an Outback (99). (Best Auto Parts in Lynnwood, $500) Checked out the tranny, swapped out the speedo unit (used one was busted).

Hooked it to the engine, I had left the engine in the car. Brought the tranny up from under the car. Interesting, easier to do that then I thought. mr.radon let me borrow his tools. (he also rebuilt my engine for me)

I got everything ready to start the engine and test the tranny. Engine didn't run worth a darn.

mr.radon hooked up the OBDII scanner. Looked fine. It would start and then die, idle was crap, high RPM seemed okay, but no power.

Under the hood I never noticed it. But the intake plenum (above the dog bone) wasn't sealed/put back together right. There was a crack between the two parts. Thanks to a friend for noticing this mistake. Never knew a small air leak was a big deal.

Took it for a test drive. The car drives awesome now. Rebuilt motor and new/used tranny that looks light years newer then my old one.

 

:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

Edited December 22, 201114 yr by forester1999

I need a new clutch fork cover. The old tranny's cover was hard and busted, as was the used one I got.

Anyone know the part number and if there is a cheap aftermarket cover? I can't find the part for sale anywhere...

 

Do I have to go to the dealer?

Dealer only on the rubber boot. You don't really need it though. They are about $25 IIRC.

 

GD

Yeah my crumbled too when I had to take my motor out to do the transmission.. I decided to hold off on my cover as well.

After driving around town I noticed an issue with 3rd gear. It would feel like its not going into gear all the way. I also noticed a small issue with 5th, but noting with 1st, 2nd, 4th or R. I took a look at the linkage below to see if something was binding down there. (the salvage yard offered a 30day money back if its got issues)

I crawled under the car, looked at the linkage and had someone move it to 3rd and 5th. Looks like I flipped washer (17), as seen in the shop manual picture below, when I bolted the linkage up to the new tranny. (bent tab facing in vs out). Flipping washer (17) seems to have fixed the issue.

I'm not seeing it the picture what the heck the tab is for, is the tab on washer (17) to hold a neutral return spring?

If it's not used for anything, any harm cutting it off?

 

 

Once again I'm grateful to having friends that know a lot more about cars then I do help me fix this little guy.

The tab is for the centering spring. It just brings the shifter back to the center position (between 3 and 4) when you take your hand off of it. The springs can rust and break, and often people lose them when taking apart the linkage. Or they can't figure out how to get the spring back in place so they just leave it off. But it helps a ton with the feel of the shifter and makes it much easier to find 3rd gear.

Are you sure a spring can be installed?

I looked and looked, there isn't a feature to attach to the shift linkage, just the feature on the stay's washer.

Hum....

 

I'll look again...

Looked again, can't figure it out. I got a bucket of springs, could hang one if I knew where. Anyone with a 5MT forester have a picture of where the spring goes?

 

Drove the car on a +400 mile road trip (still have to drive back) for Christmas. I had Michelin X-Ice Xi2 snow tires installed before I left. As soon as I stopped I drained the tranny fluid while still hot! Looked at the plug, not a metal filing to be seen. I guess that is my Christmas present! I wasn't in 3rd gear much, but the interference is gone. My rebuilt motor did well too! Thanks to my friend for fixing my rides engine!

He told me he added a quart of Dextron III to the motor oil to clean up the insides of the engine? I felt weird driving knowing automatic tranny fluid was in the motor oil.....so I changed the engine oil too. I learned that if you put a magnet inside the wrench to pull the oil plug you can keep it from falling into the oil drain pan when you pull the plug on a hot motor. Drains way way faster. Almost like water!

Hope to make it back tomorrow - can't wait to try the new shoes on some snowy passes.

The spring mounts are on that washer tab and then on the transmission side of the knuckle that bolt T3 goes through - the one that's roll-pinned to the tranny shift rod. If the knuckle doesn't have the spring tab on it then it's from a car that had an internal spring instead of an external spring.

 

GD

Is kind of hard to see from below unless you know what to look for. There is a small tab on the bottom of the linkage right where it attaches to the transmission.

Here's a thread on scoobymods with some pics of the shift linkage. http://www.scoobymods.com/showthread.php/kartboy-shifter-and-bushings-wrx-205.html?s=&threadid=205

So it should look like this?

 

Spring between the two holes. My rod doesn't have the other hole. I guess the car this came out of didn't need the return spring. I can live with that.